Monday, July 17, 2006
travelogue:
DAY ONE Well....day one of our vacation has come! I put the kids to bed last night dressed in their traveling clothes and had their sandals lined up by the front door. Grant and John had the van packed (to the gills!) and backed into the drive-way facing the road before we went to bed last night. All our camping gear (two tents, most of the sleeping bags, air mattresses, etc) are in a canvass pack bunjee corded onto the roof of our van. And the inside of our van is so full you about can't close the doors!
We left the house ahead of schedule, a little before 5:00am this morning. A mile or two from home we realized that Doug's ritalin was packed in my duffel bag somewhere near the bottom of the pile of duffle bags tightly fitted jigsaw fashion behind the rear most seat of the van. We didn't want to UNPACK all those things until tonight when we hit the hotel, so, we turned around and went back home to grab his back-up supply of ritalin. That didn't put us behind any...we still left by 5:00am...and that way we were able to give him his ritalin with breakfast, a few hours later, without having to unpack.
I NEVER thought I would ever put any child of mine on ritalin. Six months after Doug came home to us, the school staff were begging and pleading with me to try him on ritalin. I did...fully planning not to keep him on it if I didn't think it was benefitting HIM. (I wouldn't put him on any medication for my convenience or the school's.) The Ritalin made a DRAMATIC difference. His ability to FOCUS and concentrate went from absolute nil to a little bit. That might not sound impressive...but it is HUGE. He still has to work really hard to focus at all, but now he CAN focus....and he can self-control. When I forget to give him his ritalin, he is just spastic...and frenic in his acting out and impulsivity. He is extremely difficult to be near when he doesn't have the ritalin helping him self-modulate. And he doesn't handle correcton gracefully when he is trying to manage without the ritalin. He gets very defiant and sullen...which, anyone who knows Doug, knows that just ISN'T him. He is such an easy-going, HAPPY, loveable little kid. The ritalin doesn't make him something he isn't (zombied--or something)...it just allows him to BE himself. It gives him a measure of freedom. It is such a blessing that there is medication that can help him help himself. His brain injury has left him with such a overwhelming legacy....disabilities in speech, memory, learning, concentration....that everything is harder for him than it would have been had he never been injured....but, the ritalin gives him back a small measure of the normalacy his brain has lost. Neither he, nor I, would opt to skip his medicine for the day just once, even. It is miserable for him (and those around him) when it is even just late because we have momentarily forgotten it. His ability to self-control, self-modulate is dramatically enhanced by the ritalin. His ability to FOCUS is also dramatically effected. His ability to focus and concentrate is still really impaired, even with the ritalin, but, at least with the ritalin he CAN focus with effort. Without it, he genuinely can't. He feels better and enjoys life so much more when his brain and his body aren't locked in a frenic state of disjointed activity. Sometimes I worry about the possible long-term effects of ritalin....increased blood pressure, stunted growth, Turrette's Syndrome. There are some pretty somber possibilities. Yet, I fully believe the benefits of this medication are worth the risks for my son. It is worth taking the risks for the measure (small though it may be) of normalacy it gives him....for the measure of success it makes possible for him.
2:45pm....
We are passing through Osh Kosh, Nebraska. The sign at the edge of town proclaims it is the "goose hunting capital of the world". Two farmers were out spraying their tractor with a hose, but, I didn't get my camera out fast enough to take their photo. Sorry!
We are making fantastic time. Just passed a sign saying that Scottsbluff, Nebraska is just 80 miles down the road. Uncle John's time-table had us entering Scottsbluff at 7:00pm tonight...currently, we could be there by 4:30!!!! (Our first hotel reservation is in Scottsbluff....630 miles from our front porch!) The gender differences in this van are rapidly becoming apparent. The front section of the van (all the guys) are beamingly smug over the unexpectedly quick time we are making. Meanwhile, the middle seat (all the women) are discussing how we can USE the time we have gained....WAL-MART!!!!!! (Aunt Vonnie has been relating things left and right to shopping all day, already. We hit Osh Kosh and she tells the children, "Look! The town where they make those clothes!" Uncle John argues, "No. Osh Kosh is where they have that air show every year...it's airport is the busiest one in the country on that day every year. There aren't any hotel rooms to be found...people camp out under the wings of the planes, even." (Later he admits that actually this is the Osh Kosh in WISCONSIN, not NEBRASKA that has the famous annual air show). Meanwhile, we see a sign for Cold Water Creek and Aunt Vonnie is back to telling the children about clothes and the towns they are made in!
Oh my!!! The guys in the front seat are REALLY high fiving each other now!!! They just realized that we have crossed into another time zone...so it is actually 2:10 rather than 3:10. We are unbelieveably ahead of schedule now! They are really in high spirits! Grant is planning on stopping off at Chimney Rock for a photo op! That might be almost as good as Wal-Mart!
Up ahead is "Car Henge". You have heard of "Stone Henge"?....well, this is Nebraska's answer to that....an arrangment of cars turned up on end. Don't know if we will actually get to see this marvel or not...it is fifty miles ahead, but we aren't yet sure if it is on our actual path or not. I feel badly that I missed Grant's subtle hinting that we stop at the free Buffalo Bill Cody Museum in North Platte. He and I had stopped at that tourist trap on our way to the Black Hills fifteen years ago on our Honeymoon. I didn't realize he actually DID want to stop there until we were way on down the road today. He just doesn't come right out and say things as loudly and clearly as he needs to for me to pick up on his wishes! I wish we HAD stopped. The kids would have enjoyed running around a bit there and he and I could have reminisced. Had we realized we were making such great time, I'm sure we would have stopped. Hindsight! And, we are coming back home a different way.....so, guess it will have to wait until next time. (Today is our hardest day of driving....the day we had to get the most miles covered. We would have planned our stop-over in Cheyenne, Wyoming for tonight but they had some town celebration that had all the hotels booked solid.....thus, our heading to Scottsbluff, Nebraska instead (and a completely different traveling route).) .........just passed a more specific billboard....Car Henge would take us thirty-six miles the wrong direction (adding 62 miles to our trip), so, no Car Henge for us. Guess the guys will have to let us go to Wal-Mart afterall!
The kids have been pretty great! Our three really are good travelers. (We will see if I am singing the same tune in a few more days!)
...well, it is not 8:30pm (Nebraska time). The kids swam in the hotel pool for an hour tonight. Then we had a pizza delivered to our hotel room and watched an old Andy Griffith episode (that amazingly enough we have NEVER seen before) as we ate. The kids are sound asleep now and I have to admit, I am tired too! ¶ 7/17/2006 02:52:00 PM
DAY ONE Well....day one of our vacation has come! I put the kids to bed last night dressed in their traveling clothes and had their sandals lined up by the front door. Grant and John had the van packed (to the gills!) and backed into the drive-way facing the road before we went to bed last night. All our camping gear (two tents, most of the sleeping bags, air mattresses, etc) are in a canvass pack bunjee corded onto the roof of our van. And the inside of our van is so full you about can't close the doors!
We left the house ahead of schedule, a little before 5:00am this morning. A mile or two from home we realized that Doug's ritalin was packed in my duffel bag somewhere near the bottom of the pile of duffle bags tightly fitted jigsaw fashion behind the rear most seat of the van. We didn't want to UNPACK all those things until tonight when we hit the hotel, so, we turned around and went back home to grab his back-up supply of ritalin. That didn't put us behind any...we still left by 5:00am...and that way we were able to give him his ritalin with breakfast, a few hours later, without having to unpack.
I NEVER thought I would ever put any child of mine on ritalin. Six months after Doug came home to us, the school staff were begging and pleading with me to try him on ritalin. I did...fully planning not to keep him on it if I didn't think it was benefitting HIM. (I wouldn't put him on any medication for my convenience or the school's.) The Ritalin made a DRAMATIC difference. His ability to FOCUS and concentrate went from absolute nil to a little bit. That might not sound impressive...but it is HUGE. He still has to work really hard to focus at all, but now he CAN focus....and he can self-control. When I forget to give him his ritalin, he is just spastic...and frenic in his acting out and impulsivity. He is extremely difficult to be near when he doesn't have the ritalin helping him self-modulate. And he doesn't handle correcton gracefully when he is trying to manage without the ritalin. He gets very defiant and sullen...which, anyone who knows Doug, knows that just ISN'T him. He is such an easy-going, HAPPY, loveable little kid. The ritalin doesn't make him something he isn't (zombied--or something)...it just allows him to BE himself. It gives him a measure of freedom. It is such a blessing that there is medication that can help him help himself. His brain injury has left him with such a overwhelming legacy....disabilities in speech, memory, learning, concentration....that everything is harder for him than it would have been had he never been injured....but, the ritalin gives him back a small measure of the normalacy his brain has lost. Neither he, nor I, would opt to skip his medicine for the day just once, even. It is miserable for him (and those around him) when it is even just late because we have momentarily forgotten it. His ability to self-control, self-modulate is dramatically enhanced by the ritalin. His ability to FOCUS is also dramatically effected. His ability to focus and concentrate is still really impaired, even with the ritalin, but, at least with the ritalin he CAN focus with effort. Without it, he genuinely can't. He feels better and enjoys life so much more when his brain and his body aren't locked in a frenic state of disjointed activity. Sometimes I worry about the possible long-term effects of ritalin....increased blood pressure, stunted growth, Turrette's Syndrome. There are some pretty somber possibilities. Yet, I fully believe the benefits of this medication are worth the risks for my son. It is worth taking the risks for the measure (small though it may be) of normalacy it gives him....for the measure of success it makes possible for him.
2:45pm....
We are passing through Osh Kosh, Nebraska. The sign at the edge of town proclaims it is the "goose hunting capital of the world". Two farmers were out spraying their tractor with a hose, but, I didn't get my camera out fast enough to take their photo. Sorry!
We are making fantastic time. Just passed a sign saying that Scottsbluff, Nebraska is just 80 miles down the road. Uncle John's time-table had us entering Scottsbluff at 7:00pm tonight...currently, we could be there by 4:30!!!! (Our first hotel reservation is in Scottsbluff....630 miles from our front porch!) The gender differences in this van are rapidly becoming apparent. The front section of the van (all the guys) are beamingly smug over the unexpectedly quick time we are making. Meanwhile, the middle seat (all the women) are discussing how we can USE the time we have gained....WAL-MART!!!!!! (Aunt Vonnie has been relating things left and right to shopping all day, already. We hit Osh Kosh and she tells the children, "Look! The town where they make those clothes!" Uncle John argues, "No. Osh Kosh is where they have that air show every year...it's airport is the busiest one in the country on that day every year. There aren't any hotel rooms to be found...people camp out under the wings of the planes, even." (Later he admits that actually this is the Osh Kosh in WISCONSIN, not NEBRASKA that has the famous annual air show). Meanwhile, we see a sign for Cold Water Creek and Aunt Vonnie is back to telling the children about clothes and the towns they are made in!
Oh my!!! The guys in the front seat are REALLY high fiving each other now!!! They just realized that we have crossed into another time zone...so it is actually 2:10 rather than 3:10. We are unbelieveably ahead of schedule now! They are really in high spirits! Grant is planning on stopping off at Chimney Rock for a photo op! That might be almost as good as Wal-Mart!
Up ahead is "Car Henge". You have heard of "Stone Henge"?....well, this is Nebraska's answer to that....an arrangment of cars turned up on end. Don't know if we will actually get to see this marvel or not...it is fifty miles ahead, but we aren't yet sure if it is on our actual path or not. I feel badly that I missed Grant's subtle hinting that we stop at the free Buffalo Bill Cody Museum in North Platte. He and I had stopped at that tourist trap on our way to the Black Hills fifteen years ago on our Honeymoon. I didn't realize he actually DID want to stop there until we were way on down the road today. He just doesn't come right out and say things as loudly and clearly as he needs to for me to pick up on his wishes! I wish we HAD stopped. The kids would have enjoyed running around a bit there and he and I could have reminisced. Had we realized we were making such great time, I'm sure we would have stopped. Hindsight! And, we are coming back home a different way.....so, guess it will have to wait until next time. (Today is our hardest day of driving....the day we had to get the most miles covered. We would have planned our stop-over in Cheyenne, Wyoming for tonight but they had some town celebration that had all the hotels booked solid.....thus, our heading to Scottsbluff, Nebraska instead (and a completely different traveling route).) .........just passed a more specific billboard....Car Henge would take us thirty-six miles the wrong direction (adding 62 miles to our trip), so, no Car Henge for us. Guess the guys will have to let us go to Wal-Mart afterall!
The kids have been pretty great! Our three really are good travelers. (We will see if I am singing the same tune in a few more days!)
...well, it is not 8:30pm (Nebraska time). The kids swam in the hotel pool for an hour tonight. Then we had a pizza delivered to our hotel room and watched an old Andy Griffith episode (that amazingly enough we have NEVER seen before) as we ate. The kids are sound asleep now and I have to admit, I am tired too! ¶ 7/17/2006 02:52:00 PM
